ISVG exists to create opportunities for knowledge, experience, leadership and voluntary service to continue benefiting society across generations.
ISVG exists to create opportunities for knowledge, experience, leadership and voluntary service to continue benefiting society across generations.
The organisation was founded through the exchange of Scouting knowledge and experience among adult Scout leaders from different countries. Its original purpose was closely connected to Scouting principles and to encouraging the physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual development of young people and leaders so that they could contribute constructively as responsible members of their local, national and international communities.
That foundation remains important to ISVG. However, the same principle of learning through experience has wider relevance. Valuable knowledge exists throughout society—in Scouting, education, science, engineering, health, business, skilled professions, public service, community leadership, culture and many other fields. People who have accumulated such experience, including those who have retired from active professional life, can continue making an important contribution when appropriate opportunities exist to share what they know.
ISVG therefore seeks to create a bridge between experienced generations and emerging generations. It provides a platform where Scout and non-Scout volunteers, professionals, specialists, educators and mentors can contribute their expertise while younger people and communities gain access to practical knowledge, guidance and international perspectives.
Through this approach, ISVG aims to encourage lifelong learning, responsible citizenship, ethical leadership, social responsibility, volunteerism, international understanding and community service. It also seeks to support cooperation with Scout organisations, educational institutions, professional bodies, civil society, development partners and other organisations whose objectives complement its mission.
The long-term educational aspiration of ISVG is reflected in the concept of the ISVG Open University—a platform envisioned to extend learning beyond geographical, professional and generational boundaries and to provide structured opportunities for international knowledge sharing and lifelong education.
ISVG's purpose can therefore be expressed through one continuing idea: experience should not end with the individual who gained it; it should be shared, transformed into learning and passed forward in service to society.
